1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a connector, more particularly to a connector which is reduced in depth dimension.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been proposed a connector which is provided with a plurality of L-shaped contacts and an insulator holding the contacts, and is mounted on a printed board (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2002-334748).
The insulator has a fitting portion for fitting to a mating connector. Each L-shaped contact has a contact portion, a held portion, and a terminal portion. The contact portion extends in a fitting direction in which the insulator is fitted to the mating connector. The contact portions are arranged in the fitting portion of the insulator in two rows one above the other in a contact arranging direction. The held portion is continuous with the contact portion, extends in a direction in which the connector is fitted, and is held in the insulator. The terminal portion is soldered to a through hole in the printed board.
In general, the held portion of the L-shaped contact is press-fitted in the insulator along the fitting direction of the connector.
In the connector having L-shaped contacts, the held portions of the contacts extending in the fitting direction of the connector are held by the insulator, and hence it is impossible to obtain a sufficient holding force for holding the held portions of the contacts, unless holding portions of the insulator which hold the held portions of the contacts have a length (in the fitting direction) not shorter than a predetermined length.
In the case of the above-described connector in which the contact portions of the L-shaped contacts are arranged in two rows one above the other, it is necessary to make the length of the held portions of contacts of the upper row longer than that of the held portions of contacts of the lower row, because if the length of the held portions of contacts of the upper row is equal to that of the held portions of contacts of the lower row, the terminal portions of the contacts of the upper row and those of the contracts of the lower row come into contact with each other. Further, the respective lengths of holding portions of the insulator for holding the held portions of the contacts are determined by setting the length of a holding portion of the insulator for holding the held portions of the contacts of the lower row to a reference length as a shortest required length, and hence the length of a holding portion of the insulator for holding the held portions of the contacts of the upper row becomes longer than the reference length. The lengths of holding portions of the insulator are thus determined because if the length of the holding portion of the insulator for holding the held portions of the contracts of the upper row is set to the reference length, the length of the holding portion for holding the held portions of the contacts of the lower row becomes too short to secure a sufficient holding force for holding the contacts.
Therefore, the conventional connector suffers from the problem that the holding portion of the insulator for holding the held portions of the contacts of the upper row becomes long, increasing the depth dimension in the direction of the depth of the connector.